Coleen Sexton

Last updated
Coleen Sexton
Born
Westfield, New Jersey, U.S.
OccupationActress

Coleen Sexton (born in Westfield, New Jersey) is an American stage actress who made her Broadway debut at age 20 in Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse's Jekyll & Hyde in 2000. She portrayed the starring role of Lucy Harris in the Broadway production, as an understudy from 1999, and took over the role from Luba Mason in January 2000. She can be seen on the DVD of the show starring Andrea Rivette as Emma Carew and David Hasselhoff in the title role. Before making her debut in Jekyll & Hyde, Sexton was a singer/performer in a Germany-based band called 5NY.

Theatre career

Sexton is mostly known for her portrayal of Lucy Harris in the Broadway production of Jekyll & Hyde, where she was the final actress to play the role. [1] Sexton is the only actress to play Lucy who had been seen with every Jekyll/Hyde, except for the original Robert Cuccioli. When she took over the role, she had performed with Jack Wagner (from January to June 2000), Sebastian Bach (from June to October 2000), and the show's final actor, David Hasselhoff (from October to January 2001). Furthermore, Joseph Mahowald was the alternate until October 2000, when the original alternate Rob Evan came back to the show for its final months. In December 2000, camera crews came in to film the show, live from the audience, which starred Sexton, Andrea Rivette, and Hasselhoff, who funded the project himself. It appeared on HBO several times in early 2001, and was released in September 2001. It has since been re-released, in November 2006, but has not seen on television since 2003. Sexton has also toured with the Broadway National touring company of Chicago , from 2004 until 2005.

In 2007, Sexton was the standby for Elphaba on the first North American tour of Wicked . She joined the tour January 3 through October 28, 2007, playing the role in the absence of lead star Victoria Matlock. Her first performance took place in Providence on January 17, when she replaced Matlock mid-show.

Sexton also played Brooke Wyndham in the national tour of Legally Blonde , and the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot at the Gateway Playhouse through July 30, 2011.

In 2012 Sexton returned to the New York stage in the Off-Broadway musical Forever Dusty , about British singer Dusty Springfield. [2] She plays dual roles of "Becky Brixton", Dusty Springfield's manager, and later "Gini", a drug and alcohol counselor. Sexton also understudies the lead role of Dusty Springfield. She played the Springfield role for the first time on February 4, 2013.

In 2018, Sexton joined the touring company of Dear Evan Hansen as a standby for Heidi Hansen and understudy for Cynthia Murphy, alongside fellow Jekyll & Hyde alum Christiane Noll. [3] As of 2022, Sexton is the principal actor for the role of Heidi Hansen. [4]

Raised in Westfield, New Jersey, Sexton went into acting after graduating from Westfield High School. [5]

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References

  1. ↑ Jones, Kenneth (January 5, 2001). "Jekyll & Hyde's Moment on Broadway Ends Jan. 7". Playbill. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  2. ↑ Gans, Andrew (October 4, 2012). "Christina Sajous, Coleen Sexton, Jonathan C. Kaplan Cast in Off-Broadway's Forever Dusty, Musical About Dusty Springfield". Playbill. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  3. ↑ Fierberg, Ruthie (September 14, 2018). "Meet the Cast of the Dear Evan Hansen National Tour". Playbill. Archived from the original on September 14, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Cast & Creative | Dear Evan Hansen | Official Site".
  5. ↑ Filichia, Peter. "Westfield's Coleen Sexton follows 'Legally Blonde' tour home", The Star-Ledger , May 28, 2010. Accessed September 17, 2011. "'I'm Brooke Windham, an exercise guru,' says Sexton, a Westfield native. 'Unfortunately, Brooke is also accused of murdering her much older husband — which is where law student Elle Woods comes in to defend her.'...It's one reason why Sexton didn't attend college after graduating from Westfield High School in 1997; the offers just kept coming."
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